1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a slot machine.
2. Related Art
Gaming machines installed in an amusement facility such as a casino that is open 24 hours a day operate 24 hours without downtime, except for maintenance work. Therefore, the gaming machines in the amusement facility that is open 24 hours a day are at an increased risk of being easily tampered with for devices such as: CPU and a control board provided in a CPU chassis in a cabinet of the gaming machine, as well as various devices provided at a front face of the CPU chassis, which are necessary for performing a game. Therefore, it is preferable that components indispensable for normal operation of a gaming machine, such as the CPU and the control board, are covered by a box-shaped CPU chassis to protect against tampering.
On the other hand, in recent years, game programs executed in a game in a gaming machine and system programs operating a gaming machine tend to be updated frequently in a short period of time. The updating of programs as described above is conducted, for example, by replacing a storage medium with new one storing in advance an updated program, or loading a program distributed from a server into ROM in a gaming machine. Therefore, it is preferable that the abovementioned storage medium, a connector for connecting and disconnecting a cable to the server, and the like are provided at a front portion of the CPU chassis in order to shorten, whenever possible, the downtime necessary for program updating and maintenance. However, the storage medium and the connector that are provided at the front portion of the CPU chassis are at increased risk of tampering.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,483 discloses a gaming machine including a CPU chassis (a second chassis) inside a chassis (a first chassis). The CPU chassis houses a CPU and a control board so as to protect them. More specifically, the CPU chassis of a box-shape in this gaming machine houses the CPU, the control board, and the like. Furthermore, a storage medium can be inserted into a front portion of the CPU chassis, and also cables can be attached and detached at the front portion of the CPU chassis. At the front portion of the CPU chassis, an openable and closable front door (a front member) is provided so as to provide shielding against attempts at tampering applied to the storage medium and the connector capable of connecting and disconnecting cables. In addition, a plurality of heat rejecting vents including a plurality of small through-bores is formed on both side portions of the CPU chassis so that heat generated in the CPU chassis can be dissipated through the through-bores.
However, along with the improvement of game contents and more sophistication of rendered effects in order to provide more excitement, a CPU of high performance and speed compared to a conventional CPU tends to be used more often in order to achieve highly complicated controls in a game. In this way, electric power consumption of the CPU in a recent gaming machine tends to increase. Accordingly, the heat generated by the CPU and various devices, which are controlled by the CPU and necessary for performing a game, tends to increase.
Consequently, the gaming machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,483, which only has heat rejecting vents on both side portions of the CPU chassis, cannot cope with an amount of increasing heat as described above. This may cause the heat to be trapped in the CPU chassis. It may be possible to increase heat rejecting vents so as to allow the heat in the CPU chassis or at the front portion of the CPU chassis to be dissipated. However, if more heat rejecting vents are provided, it is easier to manipulate the inside and the front portion of the CPU chassis. This raises a problem that various devices such as the CPU and the control board inside the CPU chassis, and a storage medium, a connector, and the like disposed at the front portion of the CPU chassis, are at an increased risk of tampering.